I’m looking at business class flights from Los Angeles to London or Paris. I usually start by looking directly with the airline, British Air, Air France, Swiss, etc.
But in my search there are always discount companies with cheaper option, SkyLux, Arangrant, etc.
Good prices but research says there are risks using this method of buying flights. Some have said you are SOL if there are flight changes or cancellations.
Any good stories? Horror Stories? Anyone actually use these services?
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Some have said you are SOL if there are flight changes or cancellations.
that’s pretty much it. unless you’re an expert at fare rules, booking directly with the carrier is always going to give you more chance of success when there’s a disruption than if you’ve booked with a third party.
I had a booking on turkish through expedia, 10 years ago. Changed the itinerary, with confirmation from TK. Then they claimed it was invalid, due to fare rules.
I filed a claim with US DOT, and eventually got refunded.
I book direct now. Rare exception was using chase points for a next day flight on sun country, an ULCC, when a dl flight was canceled at a rural airport.
If irregular operations happen, weather, maintenance, etc- ime direct booking is better served or prioritized vs 3rd party booking.
For premium class long haul flights, I use miles, mostly accrued thru credit card spend and signup bonus, and plan well in advance since those are often few and booked quickly. I’m cheap/frugal.
10ish years ago, flyertalk was active, not sure if still is. Could be worth perusing.
I’m looking at business class flights from Los Angeles to London or Paris. I usually start by looking directly with the airline, British Air, Air France, Swiss, etc.
But in my search there are always discount companies with cheaper option, SkyLux, Arangrant, etc.
Good prices but research says there are risks using this method of buying flights. Some have said you are SOL if there are flight changes or cancellations.
Any good stories? Horror Stories? Anyone actually use these services?
…
Your best bet is to go direct.
Google flights is a great way to track prices. You can set notifications on some routes and you will get a notice if the price drops. You can also search for the cheapest time of the season to go on those routes. Also sign up to get spam from the airlines, you can get great deals that way. Check out flyertalk as they often talk about whatever the latest deal is.
Lastly you might want to look into flying Business on the way over, during the night so you can sleep, and premium economy on the way back since you will be awake. Lufthansa, BA, United and Air France have pretty good premium economy seats and it saves about $1,500
Oh, one more thing. You will see that companies like SkyLux will advertise cheap business class fares but often they are on airlines like Iceland air…they don’t have a real business class seat.
The two airlines that I see often having good deals are TAP Portuguese airlines and Turkish. Both have real business class. Turkish seats and food are awesome.
FlyerTalk is still quite active. It is strictly moderated, so the travel threads stay on topic with no personal insults. On it, you get input from some people with deep experience in travel. But, like most things, it has its biases. The posters tend to be more first or business class than the general public — sometimes flying on the company dime and sometimes the poster apparently has plenty of money. So, the posters there may weigh the pros/cons of a cheaper airfare differently than would most people. Still, even with its biases, it’s a valuable source of information.